I've always been an early-morning voter. Just seems the sort of thing that, when it comes around, I like to get under my belt first thing. Makes the rest of the day seem a little brighter, at least until the actual results come in and then, you know, generally cloudy skies and thunderbolts.
And see, the whole problem with front-loading the primary schedule is that I didn't get to vote for the guy I actually wanted to vote for. John Edwards pulled out last week, to my great surprise and disappointment. And since, in a two-way contest, I have a clear preference for Obama over Clinton, and since the polls have it so very close between them, this didn't seem the right occasion to be casting symbolic votes. Therefore I voted Obama, and am happy to have done so--but would have been even happier to have voted for Edwards.
My polling place is in a National Guard station, with a big, I don't know, a howitzer or something stationed outside and, inside, a lovely picture of weapons of war shooting at each other. (Which is okay, because of course that's what these guys do--but there were no pictures of people anywhere, nothing human on display.) (Although there was a vending machine where you could buy Fresca, so there you go.)
Some arcane rule seems to have been put in place, the intent of which was to allow independents to vote Democrat if they wish. But the result was pure confusion: there were booths set aside for independent voters, clearly marked as such; but every time someone went into one of them, a poll worker had to pop out of her chair and pull them out, telling them to go into one of the marked "DEM" booths. I predict stories will soon emerge about large numbers of spoiled independent ballots.
What this meant was that independents and Democrats had to line up to wait for a free DEM booth--and this neighborhood being what it is, the whole notion of an equal number of REP and DEM booths is simply absurd. The booths for Republicans stood empty the whole time I was there, and Democrats stood in line. Pure silliness.
Still, I've done my bit. Got my sticker, and now it's off to the rest of my bright, bright day.
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